Social Experiment: What do you see?

[Pica Pica]

Conjoined twins.

[Tyler]

How did you come to this conclusion?  *edit* I am sitting here at my computer and I can't help myself I am rofl

The eyes and the lips kinda give off that indication to me at least.

[Shawn Sunshine]

I will be back later today, and after a few more replies will reveal what is hidden behind door #1 

[Amazon D]

I will be back later today, and after a few more replies will reveal what is hidden behind door #1 

your gonna have people ignore your threads playing games like this going on for two days.. you are new and people want answers or else they will ignore you big time in the future shame shame shame

[Naturally Blonde]

your gonna have people ignore your threads playing games like this going on for two days.. you are new and people want answers or else they will ignore you big time in the future shame shame shame

I agree with Amazon and you need to make you point fairly soon.

[Shawn Sunshine]

Um I was not playing games, I had to go to doctors all this morning and afternoon. Just got back home. I will explain everything after I take care of a few things around the house in about 1 hour

[Shawn Sunshine]

Well ok here goes! This was a picture given to me by my Aunt, she said I sent it to her when I was in high School. I don't remember sending it, I can't seem to remember the name of the girl in the picture. Here is what I remember, this was a Valentines Day Dance, the only dance I ever went to or was allowed to go to by the Catholic boys ranch I was living at during High School. I wrote on the back of the picture "This is a picture of me and a good friend of mine at the sweetheart dance." I can't hardly remember what happen there very well. I refer to this person as a good friend, and yet i can't really recall. The Medication they had me on really messed up some of my memories and I was going though hell with my family and the boys ranch in other areas. What I do know is that I do recall feeling uncomfortable and uneasy about the dance. This girl was not someone I was romantically involved in. I know she was a friend I just can't seem to place all the details.

When I got this picture from my aunt, I saw for the 1st time how soft and feminine I looked in the 80s , I look at my smile and my eyes in the picture and I see something there I did not see before. I found it very interesting that some of you had seen things I had seen and also were able to discern so much from a photograph. Its amazing how we can see in someone else also things they cannot see in themselves, which is why its important to get honest loving feedback from your friends.

Tyler: From my observation the first thing I notice is that they are not a couple. I don't think they even like each other in that way. Perhaps they are family members or close friends. The person on the right is either a rather young boy whom is tall for his age as others have said, or a rather butch woman. I am actually torn on that part. They look like they had some fun.

I was quite tickled that Tyler saw me as being female, albeit a butch female. They were also right in that we were nor a romantic couple. I was actually 16 going on 17 when this picture was taken.

Beth Andrea said

I see a happy young couple (male and female), perhaps about to go to the Prom.

Well it was a dance but I don't remember being happy, and I can't remember if she was happy.

Amazon said

a PINK bowtie

I actually like a pink bow tie. I believe we we were asked to all wear pink at the dance.

Pica Pica said

Conjoined twins.

I don't really see that, but i guess you might have been joking 

Chrissty said

I'm sure there's more to this picture than the obvious (as you will point out)..

...but at first glance the picture is of happy confident girl, shy and introvert guy..

Yeah I was rather shy and introverted even at 16, I am much more extrovert now

Road to Trista said

The guy looks like a tall 13 year old who's weird and awkward to be around and the girl looks like a mormon-republican zombie. The girl is all happy faced and the guy is nervous. Both of them have ugly hairstyles, and the picture is kinda fuzzy so it's probably an old picture. They both look a couple years younger than me so I guess they're going to homecoming.

Aww gee come on this was the 80's I had poofy hair and no one at the time thought it was strange lol

Narurally Blonde said

Photoshop trickery? both pics are the same person taken at different times?

Interesting, you really see that huh? I guess that says something about me then, like I have always been missing something, it got me thinking that when I look in a mirror all i recognize is my smile and my eyes, my body even when thinner has never quite looked like my soul.

Plain Jane said

Looks like a prom or something like that?

I see a girl in her middle to late teens (maybe 16~18?) and a boy in his early to middle teens (13~14) who is tall for his age and too young to be wearing a tux.

My first inclination is that these people are related to each other. Can't really tell you why I say that.

I can see why you thought we were related, we were just friends and not dating, so I can see how it gives the appearance of a stand offish picture. I wasant 13 though heh 

Ms. Obrien said

Some kind of prom or dance.  The guy looks like an old version of your avatar.  They seem like a typical young couple to me.
The girl is happy, as in with her date.  The guy not so much.  The guy has a sadness in the eyes.  Maybe a sense of jealousy of the girl.

Yeah I was very sad and hurting at the time, and my memory is blocked and I can't seem to access this time very well and remember details.

A had said

Uhm, most likely... The official picture of a couple for their end-of-studies ball? One with a weird theme, or one from another age when fashion was especially weird. I'm hesitating between a picture at the ball (because of the blue thingies) and one at home before leaving (because of the folding screen that doesn't have anything to do with a party). Or the extremely special wedding of an especially young couple, if it's them, or just with a weird theme.

The guy...
-He looks uneasy. He is either upset ("not a picture again" or "wtf is with this bow tie?") or very uneasy or nervous about the event itself or his partner.
-Since his hair is messy despite wearing formal wear, it may be that he was forced into all of this, or that he really did not care at all about any of this. Or maybe this was all very sudden and he had to come at the last minute or fill in for someone. Plus, it doesn't look like his clothes are properly worn (I think the vest is usually tied higher..?)
-He doesn't seem like he's very happy overall, regardless of his feelings for the event. Is he being forced on a career course he doesn't like? Has he been lying to someone? Does he like men despite having a girlfriend? Did something bad happen to him recently?
-He almost looks like he's holding on to the girl so that he won't flinch. He looks like he feels vulnerable. He feels like... Maybe, a delicate person who is required to be tough, maybe. In either case, someone is apparently asking too much of him. He's holding her way too tightly for the mood he seems to be in. Or maybe she's, like, his sister and the photograph told them to hug, and he found it weird, so he looks awkward.

The girl...
-She seems more genuinely happy than the guy.
-I'm not sure, but something in her eyes seems to say she's upset at something. Has she just forced her unwilling partner into the picture? Did her partner just do something she's angry about but she doesn't want it to show?
-Her hair leaves me perplexed. Is this a quickly arranged pathetic excuse of a hairstyle, or is it a trend of the times? The former might mean that the whole couple was forced into that event and she's just better at pretending to be happy... or that someone just messed with her hair and that's why she's upset. The latter, well doesn't mean any of that.
-Her clothes seem much more trendy than the guy's. Did the guy lose a bet? Or were girls' clothes considerably better than men's at the time?
-She's clinging to the guy much more genuinely than he does. Is the relationship one-sided? Is she trying to cheer him up? Is she just over-acting to look happy?

As for their relationship, if they're a couple (because they could very well be siblings, relatives or even friends, too), it looks like it's either one-sided, short-lived or in need of being fixed somehow... Or it could actually go well and the guy (and possibly the girl too) is having a bad day.

Seems like A has a very strong gift of discernment here. I am amazed at how much you are able to see. I bolded the things that are true 100% and the rest was not or I can't remember.

Anyways my whole point of this thread was to hope that other saw in me what I see and also see more than I can see, which has helped me quite a bit. 

I thank you all very much for posting in this thread. God Bless you.

[Amazon D]

SHO'SHAWNA

Well you put a lot of thought into your closing post 


BUT THERE WAS NO BIG SURPRISE SHEESH 

[Shawn Sunshine]

Eh well i could have said something like the Boy was actually the girl and the girl was actually the boy. 

[GhostTown11]

I love a good catfight

[A]

Uhm, you're welcome. Aaaah, the 80s... Poor you. Looks like designers forgot the meaning of "beautiful" in those years. Or that's what I feel whenever I see an old movie or picture from that time.

Edit: Oh, and by the way, it's not things that I "saw"... Just guesses over the feelings from the picture. I'm neither Sherlock nor House, hehe.

[Shawn Sunshine]

The conclusion was very disappointing. If you were the girl in the picture there might have been a point to the excercise. You have started a totally pointless thread.

I think you missed my reason for making the thread. I wanted to hear about what people see , now as they are and before making a transition, i think that our perceptions change after we start feeling and looking more like our inner self.

Tyler had it right really, and the other point is I am trying to make is now I do see my older pictures and I see the girl inside of them. I also now am able to faintly remember things that happened to me when these pictures took place. I am going to a therapist who will perform hypnotherapy to help me remember things more clearly. Not to mention a plethora of other therapies.

If you were the girl in the picture

I am the girl in the picture, I just don't have blonde hair and I am wearing a tux and its only as of today that I am starting to accept that I am the girl.

[Shawn Sunshine]

Uhm, you're welcome. Aaaah, the 80s... Poor you. Looks like designers forgot the meaning of "beautiful" in those years. Or that's what I feel whenever I see an old movie or picture from that time.

Edit: Oh, and by the way, it's not things that I "saw"... Just guesses over the feelings from the picture. I'm neither Sherlock nor House, hehe.

ahh well still its kinda uncanny that you still guessed at what was there. When you pointed it out it helped me remember a few things as well. Hopefully I can start to remember more with therapy and such, the meds I was on and the trauma I experienced was rather harsh. I did not have a pleasant childhood or teenage life. When your on the wrong meds and mis diagnosed for 5 years it takes a toll.

[Jamie D]

SHO'SHAWNA

Well you put a lot of thought into your closing post 


BUT THERE WAS NO BIG SURPRISE SHEESH 

The surprise is, ShawnToShawnna is the shorter of the two. 

[Sephirah]

ahh well still its kinda uncanny that you still guessed at what was there.

Can't say I wasn't expecting this particular outcome, but the thread is far from pointless.

The quote above... it's not uncanny. It's partly intuition - the ability to discern things from subtle cues and prior knowledge that we aren't aware we're tapping into. It's also partly empathic projection - superimposing ones own feelings into the picture based on what one already knows of the poster and subconsciously feels themselves about a given situation. In essence, putting oneself in that place. Given the nature of where the picture was posted, it's not really surprising how much insight one can have on a picture like this since a lot of feelings will be shared.

Look at the replies here, see how much of them are based on the picture itself and how much based on what people already know about the person who posted it.

Fascinating insight into how people's minds work. Not pointless at all.

[Jamie D]

Actually, buried away in some box in my garage, I have similar pictures of which I have no memory whatsoever, given that I was either 'faced or high at the time.  (Yeah, it was a type of "self-medication.")

I am ashamed to say, and I don't want anyone to hate me for this, I participated in an "ugly girl" contest at one of those dances.

[Shawn Sunshine]

Can't say I wasn't expecting this particular outcome, but the thread is far from pointless.

Thank you so much! I feel better now *hugs* I sort of had a feeling you knew where this was all going before I talked about the picture 

I have similar pictures of which I have no memory whatsoever, given that I was either 'faced or high at the time.  (Yeah, it was a type of "self-medication.")

Hmm I guess I am not alone then, I am glad you shared that with me  

[A]

Uhm, just saying, I wasn't assuming the poster was in that picture. In fact, I was trying hard not to, because that would have been heavy bias... Plus, really, I had no way of really knowing who that was, heh.

[Rebecca Perez]

My first snap impression is that the boy is uncomfortable and unhappy. That isn't a genuine smile in any sense. I couldn't tell you why.

[peky]

I didn't miss any point because there wasn't a point, you were a typical boy who wore typically boy clothes and wore your hair short like a typical boy (a rather tall boy at that).  I will have to dig out my old pics from the 70's and 80's where I didn't wear boy clothes, I didn't have short hair and I wasn't conforming.  I've never worn a tux in my life!

You seem to be looking for excuses or some kind of confirmation because you are insecure about your situation.

^^ I agree with Naturally Blond; there seem to be an underlaying theme of "please reassure me" in all your threads; and that is just fine with me, to some degree we all need validation.

Peky

PS. I have few picture of myself as either I avoided the camera or I destroy them